Drop The Mic with Jason Hunt

Jason Hunt
  • 5.0 (11)
  • MARKETING
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Drop The Mic is the pulse of marketing brilliance, where the world's top marketers share their journey from start to stardom. Uncover the tactics and stories behind their success in a rapidly evolving industry. Each episode is a treasure trove of insights, offering inspiration and guidance for marketers at any level. Dive into the minds that shaped the marketing world and discover how to leave your own mark. This is where legends speak, insights sparkle and marketing magic happens.

  1. 1D AGO

    #249 – Pier Paolo Alberghini: Your Building Is Either Healing You or Slowly Destroying You

    Pier Paolo Alberghini has spent 30 years designing and harmonizing spaces using an ancient science that most architects have never encountered. Every building you walk into is either working for your health or quietly working against it and the difference comes down to principles the ancient Romans, Renaissance masters, and Egyptian pyramid builders all understood. Modern architecture forgot all of it in 1700. And we've been paying for it ever since. Pier Paolo is Vice President of Biogeometry for Europe and a direct student of Dr. Ibrahim Karim, the founder of biogeometry. He has designed and harmonized buildings across Toronto, Geneva, and Florence, and has presented to thousands of practitioners across seven countries. One of his most documented cases: a client diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and given 2-3 years to live survived 13 more years inside a home he and Ibrahim harmonized — a case published in a 2013 Montreal architectural magazine. He is now the lead biogeometry architect on the Casitas at Kokomo Botanical Resort in Turks and Caicos, 16 buildings designed from the ground up to emanate healing energy to everyone inside and within a 5-kilometer radius. He explains: ◼️ Why every cathedral, pyramid, and ancient temple you've ever felt at peace in was built on a "power spot" — and why modern architects have no idea what that means or how to replicate it ◼️ The Parkinson's patient given 2-3 years to live who survived 13 more years inside a biogeometry-harmonized home in Toronto — and what that tells us about the spaces we're living in right now ◼️ Why 16 buildings at the golden ratio (1.618) create an energy field that heals everyone within a 5-kilometer radius — and how every single design decision at the Casitas flows from this number ◼️ The EMF truth your phone company doesn't want you thinking about: why using your phone or computer without a biosignature attachment is linked directly to long-term neurological damage ◼️ 13 things you can change in your home or office right now — starting with moving your bed and desk 40 centimeters from the walls to escape the EMF field running through them ◼️ Why sleeping under a cathedral ceiling "desiccates" you the same way a pyramid desiccates a mummy — and the one small fix that eliminates the effect entirely ◼️ How humanity lost its right-brain intuition in 1700 due to the Cartesian shift — and why Ibrahim Karim believes we are finally in the process of reclaiming it ◼️ How to find power spots anywhere in the world using pendulums available on Amazon right now — and exactly what to do once you've found one TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro 05:14 – What Is Biogeometry? Breaking Down BG3 Energy and Why It Matters 10:00 – Why Ancient Cathedrals Made You Feel Something (and Modern Buildings Don't) 15:40 – The Casitas at Kokomo: Designing 16 Buildings to Heal Their Inhabitants 20:33 – The Parkinson's Patient Who Lived 13 Extra Years in a Harmonized Home 25:00 – Power Spots: The Earth's Gift That Most People Walk Past Every Day 30:07 – 13 Ways to Make Your Home and Office Biogeometry-Friendly Right Now 35:00 – Cathedral Ceilings, EMF, and the Sleep Destroyers Hidden in Your Bedroom 40:00 – Ancient Builders Always Chose Their Sites Deliberately (Here's How They Found Them) 43:00 – The 1700 Cartesian Shift: How Humanity Stopped Trusting Its Intuition SUPPORT AND CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/socialmediaspeaker/ Website: https://jayhunt.social

    49 min

  2. APR 1

    #248 – Joshua Counsil: The $0 Event That Saved a Brewery

    Joshua Counsil is the co-founder of Good Robot Brewing in Halifax, a multi-award-winning hospitality and beverage company with three venues, national wholesale distribution, and The Beverage Factory, a co-manufacturing facility serving brands all the way to Costco. Good Robot Brewing was weeks away from insolvency. No ad budget. No agency. No playbook. Co-founder JOSHUA COUNSIL posted about a silent reading event on Facebook, and within 72 hours the taproom was at capacity. That single idea didn't just save the business, it became 5% of their website traffic for the next five years and helped fuel a $10M brand built almost entirely on earned media, raw authenticity, and doing the opposite of what every competitor was doing. He explains: ◼️ How one $0 Facebook post pulled a brewery back from the brink of insolvency ◼️ The "zig where they zag" framework that turned a corn beer into an award-winning product and a viral campaign ◼️ Why publicity is the most underrated marketing channel — and how to manufacture it without a PR budget ◼️ The brutal truth about running a business vs. opening one (and why most entrepreneurs get blindsided) ◼️ How Josh uses AI as a strategic thinking partner — not a content machine — to break through writer's block and sharpen product positioning ◼️ Why founder-led content still wins, and what happens to your brand when the founders stop showing up ◼️ The mindset shift that keeps entrepreneurs going when the fire hose of problems never turns off Timestamps 02:15 – Why Josh loves conferences more than most people love vacations 05:00 – Raised by murder mystery dinner theatre owners: how that shaped everything 09:30 – From engineering to entrepreneurship — quitting his job in Seattle for a brewery idea 14:00 – Landing in Halifax and the culture shock of a non-hustle market 18:30 – Weeks from insolvency: what the early days of Good Robot really looked like 23:00 – The silent reading event that packed the taproom in 72 hours 27:30 – Zigging where competitors zag: the corn beer campaign that no one expected 32:00 – Publicity over paid ads: why earned media builds brands that ads can't 36:30 – Knowing what you suck at — the most underrated business skill 40:00 – Using AI as a strategic partner, not a shortcut 🔗 Connect with Joshua Counsil on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/joshuacounsil 🍺 Good Robot Brewing: goodrobotbrewing.ca 📩 Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe and leave a 5-star review. 🎓 Want the AI tools and strategies we use at Merged Media? Join the Amplify Your Brand community: skool.com/ayb Learn more about Jay: jayhunt.social

    46 min

  3. MAR 20

    #247 – Zivko Dodovski: Why AI Outreach is Killing Your LinkedIn Results

    Everyone's automating their LinkedIn outreach. Everyone's using AI to personalize at scale. And almost everyone is getting ignored. Zivko Dodovski, CEO of DoneMaker, has built a thriving B2B lead generation firm by doing the exact opposite; zero automations, zero AI messages, and a manual outreach process that consistently books 8-10 qualified calls per month for his clients. Zivko started in radio broadcasting before pivoting into B2B sales, where he discovered that genuine human connection on LinkedIn outperformed every tool, shortcut, and automation he tested. He now runs DoneMaker, a LinkedIn organic outreach firm that has helped clients like J Baker Media land 5 clients in 2 months and Jones & Lamb LLC generate $14K in a single month — all without spending a dollar on ads. He explains: ◼️ Why "over-personalization" is the new spam — and how savvy buyers spot it in seconds ◼️ The exact connection message framework Zivko uses to start real conversations without pitch-slapping ◼️ Why LinkedIn's API suppresses automation tools and what that means for your outreach results ◼️ How to use Sales Navigator to build targeting so precise it turns outreach into a near 50/50 yes-or-no conversation ◼️ The profile optimization mistake most small businesses make — and why the "billboard approach" backfires ◼️ Why commenting on viral posts can generate more impressions than posting on your own feed ◼️ The dot-space LinkedIn trick that instantly reveals who's using automation to reach you ◼️ When LinkedIn simply won't work for your business — and what to do instead Timestamps: 02:00 – From radio broadcasting to B2B sales and founding DoneMaker 05:00 – Is radio advertising still relevant in 2026? 08:00 – How Zivko personally uses LinkedIn to grow his business 09:20 – The hot take: no AI, no automations — everything manual and why 12:00 – "Over-personalization" — the new red flag buyers can smell a mile away 15:00 – The exact connection message framework that starts real conversations 18:00 – Why Sales Navigator is the most underutilized LinkedIn tool 21:30 – From connection request to booked call — the full outreach sequence 24:00 – Profile optimization: what to do (and what to ditch) depending on your company size 26:00 – Where posting fits into the outreach strategy 29:00 – The commenting strategy that beats posting your own content 32:00 – Cadence, blog strategy, and the top/middle/bottom of funnel approach 36:00 – LinkedIn articles and newsletters — worth it or not? 38:00 – LinkedIn ads vs. Meta ads — why you should never test creative on LinkedIn 40:00 – The dot-space automation detection trick and when LinkedIn won't work for you Connect with Zivko: Website: donemaker.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zivkododovski Connect with Jason: Website: https://jayhunt.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/socialmediaspeaker/

    41 min
  4. #246 – Ronnie Malewski: The Marketing Shift That's Making Your Website Obsolete

    MAR 5

    #246 – Ronnie Malewski: The Marketing Shift That's Making Your Website Obsolete

    NP Digital Canada Managing Director Ronnie Malewski reveals why most marketers are hiding behind vanity metrics while their competitors eat their lunch, how AI-powered conversational commerce is making your checkout page irrelevant, and why "impressions don't pay salaries — revenue does." Ronnie Malewski is the Managing Director of NP Digital Canada, one of the fastest-growing digital agencies in the country, built entirely on inbound leads under Neil Patel's brand. His dual background in psychology and marketing shapes everything from how he approaches clients to how his team builds AI workflows that competitors haven't caught on to yet. He explains: ◼️ Why vanity metrics (impressions, clicks, reach) are a deliberate hiding place — and the only number that actually matters in 2026 ◼️ The conversational commerce shift happening right now: how AI agents are taking over the entire buyer journey from research to checkout, without ever touching your website ◼️ How Ronnie's team audited their own time sheets to identify AI use cases — and built a media planning tool that made the role nearly obsolete overnight ◼️ Why "AI can create Shrek 1, 2, and 3 — but it can't create Shrek" — and what that tells you about where human creativity still wins ◼️ The exact 5-step framework for showing up in AI search engines (GEO/AEO) before your competitors figure it out ◼️ Why you need roughly 250 published documents for AI engines to trust your brand as a legitimate source — and how most businesses are nowhere close ◼️ The Campbell's Soup psychology experiment that doubled average purchase quantity overnight without changing a single thing about the product ◼️ Why saying no to the wrong clients is the real foundation of agency culture — not perks, not team-building, not personality Timestamps 05:00 – Ronnie's path from psychology student to WPP, Dentsu, and building NP Digital Canada 10:00 – How NP Digital runs on 100% inbound leads and what that means for the type of clients they win 15:00 – Vanity metrics are a lie: why impressions don't pay salaries and what to measure instead 20:00 – Conversational commerce and agentic checkout: the buyer journey has already changed 25:00 – How Ronnie's agency uses AI internally: vibe coding, media plan automation, and custom client portals 30:00 – Saying no, protecting your team, and why culture is built on what you refuse 35:00 – The timeless marketing psychology principles (loss aversion, IKEA effect, Campbell's limit experiment) that AI can't replace 37:00 – 5 tactics to win AI search right now, why GEO is just SEO evolved, and where marketing is headed into 2027

    46 min
  5. #245 – Sheldon Isaac: Headshots Are Dead; How AI Is Killing Professional Photography

    FEB 25

    #245 – Sheldon Isaac: Headshots Are Dead; How AI Is Killing Professional Photography

    Professional photographer Sheldon Isaac reveals the brutal truth about AI's threat to photography, why headshots and Christmas photos are already endangered, and the ONE thing that might save photographers from complete obsolescence. He explains: ◼️ Why headshots are in serious trouble: AI tools can now generate professional-looking headshots in seconds, and most people don't want to pay $1,000+ for what AI does for free ◼️ The Christmas photo crisis nobody's talking about: how one viral AI prompt showed families they can skip the photographer, save money, and avoid packing up screaming kids ◼️ The photographer backlash that went viral: when a major photo editing software company tried to release free AI headshot tools, photographers came for them so hard they had to pull the entire product ◼️ The experience economy vs. transactional photography: why wedding photographers are safe but headshot photographers are cooked (and the psychology behind it) ◼️ How AI is already saving photographers hours: the culling and editing tools that cut through 1,000+ event photos in minutes instead of days ◼️ The prompt engineering problem: why most people still won't use AI for photos (yet), and how long that protection might last ◼️ The guerrilla content strategy that wins clients: why Sheldon brings his camera to every trade show and records podcast episodes at vendor booths (instead of just exchanging business cards) ◼️ The secret to delivering 450 event photos in 24 hours: his exact workflow for organizing galleries by category so clients can actually USE the content immediately ◼️ Why LinkedIn loves authentic event photography: and how professional photos outperform stock images 10:1 on social media algorithms ◼️ The personality fit most photographers miss: you need the same extroverted, bubbly energy as a talk show host or you'll get ghosted by nervous clients ◼️ How he built a photography business using Facebook in 2007: posting consistently before anyone understood social media marketing TIMESTAMPS: 00:00 – Intro: Building a business on Facebook in 2007 01:00 – The guerrilla podcast strategy at trade shows 05:00 – Sheldon's origin story: From film camera to full-time photographer 10:00 – Getting mentored by industry legends in your 20s 15:00 – How AI is already revolutionizing photo editing and culling 20:00 – The planning process: Why pre-production meetings save shoots 25:00 – The personality equation: Why photographers need talk show energy 30:00 – Distribution strategy: Delivering 450 photos in 24 hours 34:00 – The AI threat: Why headshots and Christmas photos are dead 37:00 – Experience vs. transaction: Which photos AI will never replace 39:00 – Why humans still crave in-person connection (and what that means for photographers) 41:00 – Where to connect with Sheldon + the "Sheldon AI" moment Connect with Sheldon Isaac: 📸 LinkedIn: Sheldon A. Isaac 📸 Instagram: @sheldonisaacimages Subscribe to Drop The Mic for weekly conversations with entrepreneurs navigating AI, marketing, and business growth in 2026. @jayhuntofficial - IG https://www.linkedin.com/in/socialmediaspeaker/

    43 min
  6. #244 – Ema Fulga: How to Win AI Search Without Losing Your Brand Voice in the Process

    FEB 11

    #244 – Ema Fulga: How to Win AI Search Without Losing Your Brand Voice in the Process

    Copywriter-turned-AI search expert Ema Fulga reveals how brands can dominate ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI results without sounding like generic AI slop—and why 60% of searches now end without a single click. Ema is the founder of decipher., a UK and UAE-based AI search optimization agency helping brands appear in AI-powered searches. With 8+ years as a freelance copywriter working with Publicis, NTT Data, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, she pivoted early to Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) when she recognized the seismic shift happening in search behavior. Based in Italy and operating across UK and UAE markets (where 58% of people use ChatGPT or Gemini—higher than most developed countries), Ema bridges the gap between creative storytelling and machine-readable content. She explains: ◼️ Why 60% of searches now end without a click—and how to win visibility in the zero-click era ◼️ The brutal truth about AI-generated content: why most of it is "garbage" and how to stand out ◼️ How to bake your brand voice into AI systems so they cite YOU instead of generic competitors ◼️ The simple technique for training ChatGPT on your personal stories, tone, and writing style ◼️ Why structured data and schema markup are the "secret handshake" with AI retrieval systems ◼️ How to optimize blog content so AI engines pull YOUR answers (not your competitors') ◼️ The biggest mistake small businesses make when writing for AI search ◼️ Why AI isn't killing creativity—it's actually making you think harder and smarter ◼️ The counterintuitive reason answering specific questions beats generic "pillar content" ◼️ How decipher. got clients appearing in AI search results in just 4 months ◼️ Why the UAE's 58% AI adoption rate makes it the perfect testing ground for AEO strategies ◼️ The future of copywriting: why human nuance and storytelling will become MORE valuable, not less [00:00] – Intro [02:15] – From affiliate marketing to copywriting to AI search optimization [07:30] – The "aha moment" that sparked decipher. and the AEO pivot [12:45] – Why 60% of searches never click and what that means for your brand [18:20] – How to train AI on your brand voice (the personal context strategy) [24:10] – The schema markup and structured data frameworks that make AI cite you [29:35] – Writing blog content that shows up in ChatGPT and Perplexity [35:50] – Why AI isn't outsourcing your brain (it's extending it) [41:20] – The UAE market insights and what high-adoption countries reveal about AEO [46:15] – Final insights & where to connect with Ema Connect with Ema: Website: decipher.agency LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/ema-fulga-decipher Email: ema@decipher.agency Subscribe to Drop The Mic for weekly insights on AI, marketing strategies, and business growth frameworks that actually work Done for you marketing: Merged Media Learn more about Jason Hunt

    47 min
  7. #243 – Scott Ward: Why Most Founders Fail at Execution

    JAN 30

    #243 – Scott Ward: Why Most Founders Fail at Execution

    Scott Ward is the founder of HabitStack, a coaching system designed to help founders and leadership teams turn strategy into consistent weekly execution. After decades in the startup trenches including scaling companies, navigating acquisitions, and leading through chaos, Scott built a framework that solves the execution gap plaguing most businesses. His clients go from reactive firefighting to proactive focus in weeks, not months. Scott reveals why 80% of founders have brilliant strategies but terrible execution, how a simple weekly cadence system transformed struggling leadership teams into high-performing machines, and why your Monday morning chaos is actually a systems problem, not a people problem. ◼️ The brutal truth about why strategic planning sessions fail within 48 hours (and the one shift that makes strategies actually stick) ◼️ How to build a leadership team that executes in lockstep—without micromanaging or endless status meetings ◼️ The "Monday morning problem" every founder faces: knowing you need to prioritize but having zero clarity on what actually matters this week ◼️ Why habits beat goals every single time—and how to stack the right habits to scale faster with less friction ◼️ The exact weekly cadence system HabitStack uses to keep founders focused: daily check-ins, weekly reviews, and why this doesn't become "just another meeting" ◼️ The #1 mistake founders make when trying to align their team (hint: it's not communication—it's something deeper) ◼️ How AI is changing accountability systems—what can be automated and what must remain human when it comes to execution coaching ◼️ The pattern separating 10x execution from mediocre follow-through: it's not discipline, it's this counterintuitive mindset shift 00:00 – Intro 05:15 – Why 80% of founders have great strategy but terrible execution 10:30 – The Monday morning problem: strategy vs. reality 15:45 – Building the weekly cadence system that actually works 20:20 – How to align your leadership team without micromanaging 25:10 – Habits vs. goals: why HabitStack focuses on systems, not targets 30:35 – The biggest mistake founders make with team alignment 35:50 – AI's role in accountability (and what can't be automated) 🔗 HabitStack: habitstack.io 🔗 Jason Hunt: jayhunt.social

    39 min
  8. #242 – Dr. Eugene K. Choi: Why 90% of Your Brain Is Running on Autopilot (And How to Rewire It)

    JAN 21

    #242 – Dr. Eugene K. Choi: Why 90% of Your Brain Is Running on Autopilot (And How to Rewire It)

    Dr. Eugene K. Choi is a former healthcare leader turned performance coach who supervised 6 major hospitals and 250+ clinics until he discovered the hidden neuroscience keeping even the best leaders stuck. After walking away from a six-figure pharmacy career to become a filmmaker (generating 30+ million views), then coaching hundreds of entrepreneurs, he uncovered a brutal truth: 90% of clients already know what to do, they're just not doing it. The reason? By age 35, 90-95% of your brain runs on autopilot, keeping you trapped in survival mode instead of accessing executive-level thinking, creativity, and decision-making. He explains: ◼️ Why your brain's "executive state" is turned off 70% of your adult life—and the exact neuroscience behind feeling stuck, anxious, or burned out ◼️ The difference between survival brain versus executive brain—and how to recognize which state you're operating from right now ◼️ How he went from six-figure pharmacist → broke filmmaker → viral content creator (30M views) → business coach—and the pattern he noticed in every failed execution ◼️ Why stress literally shuts down your ability to make good decisions, solve problems creatively, and connect with people (and how to reverse it) ◼️ The "know versus do gap"—the neurological reason you understand the strategy but don't execute (hint: it's not laziness or lack of discipline) ◼️ Why cold exposure, discomfort, and stress tolerance are the secret weapons for building entrepreneurial resilience ◼️ The dangerous AI trap: why people are forming emotional bonds with AI therapists and robots—and what happens when Gen Z prefers AI relationships over messy human ones ◼️ How to break the autopilot loop by age 35 when your brain defaults to thinking the same 70,000 thoughts per day (90% are repeats) ◼️ The science-backed practice to activate your executive brain at will—even in high-pressure, unpredictable situations ◼️ Why "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" is scientifically false—and how your brain can rewire itself until its dying breath TIMESTAMPS: 05:15 – From six-figure pharmacist to broke filmmaker: the leap 10:30 – Why 90% of coaching clients know what to do but don't execute 15:45 – The 70% survival state problem: your brain is turned off 20:20 – Survival brain vs. executive brain: the difference 25:10 – The neuroscience behind "I know it's good for me but I don't feel like doing it" 30:35 – Cold exposure and stress tolerance for entrepreneurs 35:50 – Viral content secrets: 30 million views and the psychology behind it 40:15 – The AI dystopia: humans dating robots and losing resilience 45:30 – How to rewire your autopilot brain after age 35 CONNECT WITH DR. EUGENE K. CHOI: 🌐 Website: neurohackingschool.com 📸 Instagram: @eugenekchoi 🔗 LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/eugenekchoi Follow Jason Hunt: Website: https://jayhunt.socialAmplify Your Brand Community: https://www.skool.com/aybInstagram: @jayhuntofficialLinkedIn: /socialmediaspeakerTikTok: @jayhuntofficialDone for you marketing

    51 min
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5
out of 5
11 Ratings

About

Drop The Mic is the pulse of marketing brilliance, where the world's top marketers share their journey from start to stardom. Uncover the tactics and stories behind their success in a rapidly evolving industry. Each episode is a treasure trove of insights, offering inspiration and guidance for marketers at any level. Dive into the minds that shaped the marketing world and discover how to leave your own mark. This is where legends speak, insights sparkle and marketing magic happens.

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